The Harry Potter series ignited a debate within the American Christian community between fundamentalists, who believe the books are dangerously subversive to Christianity, and more moderate Christians, who point out biblical symbolism in the books and the triumph of Christian values like faith, love, redemption, and the victory of good over evil. On one hand, Richard Abanes, author of Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick, argues that the Harry Potter series contains “spiritually dangerous material that could ultimately lead youth down the road to occultism” and promotes “unbiblical values and unethical behavior (6).” On the other hand, Christian minister John Killinger explains parallels between Harry Potter and the New Testament in an attempt to prove that ultimately, “the master plot, the one underlying the entire novel, is the critical struggle between good and evil” with Harry as Christ and Voldemort as Satan (38).
Neither of these points of view fully appreciate J.K. Rowling’s use of Christian dogma to challenge Christian morality, especially as derived from the Book of Revelation. Those who believe the Harry Potter series undermines Christianity have correctly recognized the series’ effect, but have misidentified the mechanisms Rowling uses to achieve that end. In fact, Christian supporters of the books deserve credit for drawing attention to the importance of good and evil in the series, but they oversimplify the dichotomy to the point of misunderstanding when they use it as proof of the books’ “Christian” morality. By examining how Rowling retells and revises the apocalyptic myth of the Book of Revelation to deliver a decidedly non-Christian moral message, I will show that Harry Potter provides a social critique of modern-day, Western Christian society.
The Book of Revelation promotes hierarchical, dualistic thinking based on black-and-white absolutes like “good” and “evil.” Binary classification and accompanying value judgments dominate Western perceptions of race (white vs. minority), gender (male vs. female), sexuality (straight vs. gay), and religion (Christian vs. heretics). Morality in Harry Potter, however, isn’t simply about the struggle between good and evil, it is the struggle to transcend dualism rooted in the concepts of good and evil. By setting her story in a world in which characters do not fit neatly into one of two molds, Rowling creates an alternative to traditional Christian morality. Significantly, Rowling appropriates the narrative structure of the Book of Revelation by including in Harry Potter the same plot elements as the original apocalyptic story: divine authority, receiver of a prophesy, the end of the world, Judgment day, and transcendence. The books, therefore, can be read as postmodern apocalyptic fiction, a sub-genre of apocalyptic literature in which authors adopt the apocalyptic narrative of the Book of Revelation, but challenge traditional apocalyptic dualism.
References
Abanes, Richard. Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick. Camp Hill, PA: Horizon – Christian Publications, 2001. Print.
Killinger, John. God, the Devil, and Harry Potter: A Christian Minister’s Defense of the Beloved Novels. New York, NY: Thomas Dunne – St. Martin’s Press, 2002. Print.
